UPDATE: 29 CANALS COMPLETED DURING HURRICANE MARINE DEBRIS REMOVAL PROJECT IN THE KEYS

MONROE COUNTY, FL – During the first five weeks of the Monroe County-led $49.2 million project to cleanup Hurricane Irma marine debris, 29 canals have been completed. The debris includes a car and a minivan that were removed from canal 277 on Big Pine Key this week.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), which is funding the project, has approved a total of 144 canals for cleanup to date. They approved 103 of the most-impacted canals in the Keys in phase 1 and recently approved another 41 canals. Monroe County has submitted more canals to NRCS for inclusion in the project.

The funding is from the NRCS’s Emergency Watershed Protection Program.

Nine crews have been working in six geographical parts of the Keys called Damage Survey Report (DSR) areas. The hurricane marine debris is being taken to nearby debris management sites before being hauled to Homestead for proper disposal.

For up-to-date information on the cleanup, including a master schedule of the work and the list of canals to date approved for this project, go to www.monroecounty-fl.gov/irmacanalcleanup. The master schedule should be viewed on a computer due to the amount of information.

A total of $49.2 million is available under this grant ($45.9 million for marine clearing activities and $3.3 million for monitoring). It is divided as follows: $35.2 million for unincorporated Monroe County, $7.5 million for Marathon and $6.5 million for Islamorada.

Tavernier-based Adventure Environmental was hired by the County to lead the cleanup that is scheduled to last 220 days. Greg Tolpin with Adventure Environmental told the Board of County Commissioners on Wednesday that the project is “ahead of schedule.”

Adventure Environmental and subcontractor Arnolds Towing of Stock Island have a combined workforce of about 60 people committed to the project using 4 grapple trucks, 5 sonar boats and 15 barges specifically built to perform in the Keys environment with minimal impact.  Wood Environment & Infrastructure Solutions, Inc. is monitoring the work.

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Photos from Wood Environment of vehicles being pulled from canal 277 on Big Pine Key this week.

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